Diners Club is often overlooked when it comes to card products in Australia, as it maintains a curated merchant network and targets ‘financially astute’ customers as cardholders.
But there are some quite interesting benefits by being a Diners Club cardholder, and you do get the choice to add on a linked Mastercard as well for greater card acceptance.
This guide takes a look at the Diners Club card for individuals in Australia.
What is Diners Club?
Diners Club was among the first suite of cards in Australia to introduce the offering of earning reward points for everyday spend.
While Diners Club’s presence in Australia has spanned over 45 years and was once one of the most dominant card reward schemes in the market, it has drastically reduced its presence over the past 20 years.
Nonetheless, Diners Club continues to provide its members with rewards for everyday spend at rates generally equal to or greater than that earned from Visa or Mastercard.
What Diners Club cards are available?
In Australia, Diners Club is part of the Citi family. There are two card varieties available for individuals:
- Diners Club Card (earning Diners Club Reward points)
- Frequent Flyer Diners Club Card (earning Qantas Points)
Diners Club offers charge cards rather than credit cards, which means there isn’t a pre-set spending limit. The minimum income for consideration is $75,000 p.a. Each card variety has slightly different annual fees and benefits, which we’ve highlighted in the tables below.
Diners Club Card | Frequent Flyer Diners Club Card |
|
|---|---|---|
| Annual card fee | $135 p.a. | $95 p.a. |
| Rewards fee | $77 p.a. | $55 p.a. |
| Additional Card fee | $50 p.a. | $50 p.a. |
| Standard points earn rate | 1 Reward point per A$1 | 1 Qantas Point per A$1 |
| Bonus points earn rate | N/A | 1 Qantas Point per A$1 on eligible Qantas products |
| Days to pay | Up to 44 | Up to 44 |
When bundling the Diners Club or Frequent Flyer Diners Club card with a World Mastercard, you’ll pay an increased fee but get a bigger boost to the standard points earn rate for the Diners Club card.
| Diners Club + World Mastercard  | Frequent Flyer Diners Club + World Mastercard  |
|
|---|---|---|
| Annual card fee | $299 p.a. | $260 p.a. |
| Rewards fee | Included in annual fee | Included in annual fee |
| Additional Card fee | $50 p.a. | $50 p.a. |
| Standard points earn rate | 2 Reward points per A$1 (Diners Club) 0.75 Reward points per A$1 (Mastercard) | 1.25 Qantas Points per A$1 (Diners Club) 0.5 Qantas Points per A$1 (Mastercard) |
| Bonus points earn rate | N/A | 1 Qantas Point per A$1 on eligible Qantas products |
| Days to pay | Up to 44 | Up to 37 |
Note that the Frequent Flyer Diners Club with World Mastercard bundle gives you seven fewer days to pay off each statement, compared to all the other card options.
How do I earn and redeem points with the Diners Club card?
You can earn points in accordance with the tables above, depending on whether you opt for the plain Diners Club Card or the Qantas Frequent Flyer version.
The latter earns Qantas Points which are swept periodically to your account — read our guides to see some of the best uses of Qantas Points.
But if you choose to earn Diners Reward points, then things work a bit differently. Your accumulated points can be spent on the Diners Club Rewards store, which offers a mix of merchandise and transfer partners.
Here are the current points transfer rates from Diners Club to other travel partners, but keep in mind the rates may differ depending on what type of card you hold.
| Transfer rate (Diners Club to partner) | Effective earn rate for individual cards earning 2 points per $1 | Effective earn rate for business cards earning 1 point per $1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qantas Frequent Flyer (Business only) | 1 to 1 | n/a | 1 Qantas Points per $1 |
| Asia Miles | 2 to 1 | 1 Asia Mile per $1 | 0.5 Asia Miles per $1 |
| Emirates Skywards (until 31 January 2023) | 2.5 to 1 | 0.8 Skywards Miles per $1 | 0.4 Skywards Miles per $1 |
| Etihad Guest | 2 to 1 | 1 Guest Mile per $1 | 0.5 Guest Miles per $1 |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 2 to 1 | 1 Qmile per $1 | 0.5 Qmiles per $1 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 2 to 1 | 1 KrisFlyer Mile per $1 | 0.5 KrisFlyer miles per $1 |
| Flybuys | 1 to 1 | 2 Flybuys points per $1 | 1 Flybuys point per $1 |
These rates are actually quite good if you have the Diners Club with World Mastercard bundle, which earns 2 Diners Reward points per dollar spent. It’s rare to have a card that can earn 1 Asia Mile or KrisFlyer Mile or even 2 Flybuys Points per dollar, in Australia. The latter can also be transferred to 0.87 Velocity points or 1 Velocity point during a 15% transfer bonus promotion.
Merchandise and gift cards tend to offer poorer value. 71,600 Diners Reward points could get your $400 worth of JB Hi-Fi gift cards, which is roughly 0.56 cents per point.
Yet just a bit more (say, 73,000 Diners Reward points) could be swapped for 36,500 KrisFlyer miles, which is then enough for a one-way Business Class flight from Perth to South East Asia, via Singapore. That’s worth a lot more than a $400 gift card!
What are the benefits of Diners Club cards?
No matter what card or bundle you choose, you’ll be able to benefit from an interesting range of perks that are offered to Diners Club cardholders (the World Mastercard has its own separate set of benefits).
Free airport lounge access
Diners Club boasts that cardholders have access to ‘700 airport lounges worldwide’. The participating locations can be checked on this page. There are currently six eligible lounges within Australia:
- Catalina Lounge, Darwin International
- Plaza Premium Lounge, Brisbane International
- Plaza Premium Lounge, Melbourne International T2
- Rex Lounge, Melbourne Domestic T4
- Rex Lounge, Sydney Domestic T2
- Rex Lounge, Adelaide Airport T1
Access is generally for the cardholder only, and guests may be charged extra by the lounge.
Complimentary travel insurance, purchase protection
The following insurances are included with Diners Club cards:
- International travel insurance
- Interstate flight inconvenience insurance
- Transit accident insurance
- Extended warranty insurance
- Purchase cover insurance
- Guaranteed pricing scheme
You can read the full details of each insurance in the policy disclosure statement here. The insurance is underwritten by Allianz.
The international travel insurance covers the cardholder and their spouse and/or dependents when the overseas travel ticket is charged to the Diners Club account, and offers unlimited coverage for eligible medical issues.
Be sure to look out for all the ‘catches’ with the complimentary insurance — for example, the Guaranteed Pricing Scheme is valid for 60 consecutive days after the date of purchase and only covers price differences of $75 or more when the cheaper item is advertised in a printed store catalogue within 25 km of where you made the original purchase.
Other Diners Club privileges
There are a few other benefits that might be useful for some people. This includes discounted parcel forwarding from the U.S with MyUS.com, discounted wine prices with Cellarmasters, and special offers worldwide through Diners Club Privileges.
World Mastercard privileges
If you choose a Diners Club card with a bundled World Mastercard, then you’ll be able to access these extra benefits through the Mastercard:
- VIP treatment and exclusive benefits at hotels, restaurants and stores worldwide
- Discounted airport Meet and Greet services through Mastercard Airport Concierge
Summing up
Diners Club offers an interesting card and reward system that could work well for some people. The main drawback is the lack of participating businesses — Diners Club estimates an acceptance of 15 million businesses and 800,000 ATMs worldwide, whereas Mastercard boasts 37 million business and more than 2 million ATMs around the globe.
But if your usage patterns fit nicely within Diners Club’s network, then it could be a way to accelerate your points earn. The included benefits such as lounge access and travel insurance are also nice to have.
The charge card vs. credit card differentiation might throw some people off. Diners Club only offers charge cards in Australia, which does mean no pre-set spending limit. However, it also means statements need to be paid in full or charges apply. The T&Cs say that if you fail to make a payment, you might even forfeit all points earned in that statement.
You get up to 37 or 44 days to pay off each purchase, depending on your card type and when the purchase happens within your monthly cycle. In contrast, credit cards can offer up to 55 days interest-free.
In terms of similar options, American Express offers the Platinum Charge card, but that has a much steeper annual fee offset by a larger range of benefits.
Frequently asked questions
Use the Diners Club Merchant Finder to see locations near you. Many major retailers accept Diners Club.
Diners Club cards in Australia are charge cards with no pre-set spending limit. It is also a rewards card, earning Diners Rewards points or Qantas Points.
Neither — Diners Club is its own network of cards. However, it does have a partnership with Mastercard in Australia to offer a bundle if you want the best of both worlds.
How do I join Diners Club Business? A link on the webpage would have been useful